


Donnie's Revenge

by TheKeyboardNinja



Category: NCIS
Genre: AU, Episode 17x14 On Fire AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:20:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22749988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheKeyboardNinja/pseuds/TheKeyboardNinja
Summary: It had been two years since the undercover bust at the Norfolk Marina and all of the sudden people related to the case are dropping like flies. No one suspects a thing until a car takes out two agents on a run. [17x14 AU]
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 12
Kudos: 73





	1. The First Hit

It was a cool, crispy winter Saturday morning in Washington DC. NCIS Agents Nick Torres and Ellie Bishop were spending their morning off completing a 7-mile morning run on a route they had been running every weekend for the last five months. Neither of them lived in the neighborhood, but the wide streets with infrequent traffic made for better running conditions than cramped sidewalks and busy streets near their homes. After making a wide turn out of the residential park down the road towards their cars, a car roared down the road—nearly missing a man on his bike and a mother pushing her child in a stroller—before barreling down on the unsuspecting runners.

The moment happened so quickly. One agent went flying forward, while the other attempted to jump up and barrel over the low sports car. The blonde agent was quick to her feet after watching the car speed away, racing over to the man on the ground screaming at bystanders to call an ambulance.

An hour and a half later, Agent Gibbs and McGee raced into the hospital after receiving an emergency text message from Agent Bishop to meet her at John Hamilton Hospital.

The two attempted to enter the Intensive Care Unit only to be met by an absent-minded Ellie who was rushing out in a flurry of activity. Her clothes were ripped and dirty, she rambled off as many facts about the accident as fast as she possibly could.

Repeated questions about Nick’s status were left unanswered as she continued to ramble on about the lack of cameras and the blue Subaru WRX with rear spoiler fleeing the scene of the accident.

“Bishop! Bishop! What about Torres?” Gibbs firmly asked her to quell her persistent line of details.

“Um,” she started, attempting to holds back the tears and panic her voice. “He shoved me out of the way. I knew he was strong, but not that strong.” She continued to describe the scene of the accident to prevent the tears from returning.

Ellie looked at McGee and Gibbs with tears continuing to grow and her voice shook, “It’s bad.”

It was bad. He was still unconscious after hitting his head and had an unknown cardiac anomaly that had caused him to go into ventricular fibrillation soon after Gibbs and McGee had arrived. Gibbs had watched the medical team cardiovert him back to a normal rhythm and pulse, but he was still listed in critical condition and not out of the woods yet. It was a waiting game until when or if he woke up.

In the hours following, McGee had left the hospital to return to the accident site to get further witness statements to corroborate the information Bishop had spewed off earlier.

Gibbs rose from the bench outside of the ICU to the newly arrived McGee, “What’d ya got?”

“Well, I was able to get some witness statements. Bishop had more information than all of them put together. Witnesses did tell me that this blue car had been racing up and down their neighborhood at excessive speeds for the last week and a half. Unfortunately, there are thousands bright blue Subaru WRXs registered in the DC metro area,” McGee sighed exasperatedly. “Shouldn’t she go home?”

McGee had gestured to Ellie who had limped down the hall to the medical staff, trying in vain to get anything new on Nick’s status. When her efforts failed, she continued to limp down the hall.

“I’ve already tried that,” Gibbs explained. “You want to give it a shot, go ahead!”

McGee’s phone chimed, “We got a lead. Kasie just texted me this. A Subaru WRX was caught on the red-light cam about 2 blocks away going 50 in a 25 within five minutes of Bishop’s reported time.”

“Running away from the scene of an accident?”

“It seems to be so. I will update the BOLO and meet you back at the office. Should I call Sloane to help you with her?”

Gibbs just looked at McGee silently before turning to return down the hall to find wherever Bishop had run off to.

“Got it, boss.”

Heather Karlsson was quickly found by Metro PD and brought into NCIS for questioning.

“Since when does running a red-light result in questioning by navy cops, that’s who you are right?” Heather scathed at McGee sitting across the table with a file opened in front of him.

“We are investigating a hit-and-run of two of our agents, where a car matching your description fled the scene early this morning. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“No, it’s a popular car,” Heather replied, picking her nails. “Now, you can’t hold me unless you’re going to charge me with something major. Because yes, I admit to running the red light going a bit fast, calm down, I was having some fun with the car. So, sue me.”

McGee looked down at the file in front him, “So you are admitting to reckless driving?”

“I mean, obviously, you have it on camera or I wouldn’t be here, now would I? Running that red light is a misdemeanor. I’ll deal with the ticket later. Am I free to go? I have a flight to pack for. Vietnam. Going to a resort for a spa vacation!”

“You are free to go, please provide us with a contact number to reach you if we have any further questions. I will tell you that your car has now been impounded by Metro PD for the next two weeks.”

“Whatever, saves me airport parking.” Heather waved, as she slammed the chair back and marched out the interrogation door.

Back up in the squad room, “Did she say Vietnam?” Bishop questioned as McGee returned to his desk.

“Yeah, something about a vacation,” McGee replied, not looking up from his computer.

“And you just let her go. To a country without extradition.”

“Ellie, I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. How do you know which countries have extradition treaties anyway?”

“Uh, huh!” Ellie snapped back, typing furiously on her computer. “It used to be my job, McGee! Once she’s there, there’s no bringing her back.”

“We will find out who hit you guys. We just don’t have physical evidence that she’s the one that hit you. There are 5 other cars that match the make of the car and the numbers you gave us for the partial plate.”

“Unless,” Ellie started darkly, pointing at McGee.

“No, no you will not use your clandestine contacts to kidnap her back. What’s wrong with you?”

Gibbs walked into the bullpen to grab his badge and sidearm, “I’m going back to the hospital. Dr. Romero was able to determine what was causing the cardiac anomaly. A carbon fiber shard lodged in the side of his neck. I asked them to hold it until I can get there.”

“Her car has a carbon fiber aftermarket spoiler,” Bishop pointed to the photo on the plasma.

“And has been impounded by Metro for the next two weeks. I’ll call and have it brought over,” McGee stopped typing his report and picked up his phone to make the call.

Down in the lab, Kasie was staring at her computer monitor as McGee walked in behind her, “So, this was inside Torres’ skull, huh? Imagine the stories it could tell.”

“Actually, it was in his neck,” McGee explained. “The doctor said it came off of the car when he hit the spoiler on the way down to the ground.”

“He’s gonna be okay, right? Any heads at the hospital that need busting? ‘Cause I know a guy.”

“I think Bishop’s got it covered. The entire nursing staff has a code word they use when they see her coming. Forrest! As in run,” McGee stressed the movie reference.

“She’s really taking it hard,” Kasie started. “I mean, we all are. But, you know, she might be taking it differently.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” McGee closed his eyes.

He had been avoiding going down that road. Especially with the circumstances of this accident had raised questions. He didn’t want to talk about it, and he didn’t want to think about it.

“Oh, come on,” Kasie chided him. He wasn’t completely clueless like Palmer, but she saw how he was uncomfortable and wouldn’t be a fellow confidant about this topic. McGee looked pained. “Okay, moving on.”

“It’s what is best for the both of them at this moment.”

Kasie moved to face towards her computer, “I was able to make a positive ID between the carbon fiber in Nick’s neck and the after-market spoiler on Heather’s car. Her car was the one at the scene. However, now you have to match her as the driver.”

“We have her on the red-light camera driving away. Thanks, Kase,” McGee got the positive identification and was already out the door.

Down in the observation room, behind the interrogation room mirror Jack was reviewing Heather’s social media profiles while constructing her psychological profile.

“Nothing suggests this as a premediated action,” Jack removed her glasses, while looking at Gibbs to her left. “This could very well be an isolated incident.”

“But, still a felony,” Gibbs clipped back.

“True,” Jack returned to the papers in front of her, as the door opened in interrogation. “Are we sure Bishop should be doing the interrogation. She seems a little… agitated.”

Gibbs looked at Jack to coax her to continue her thought.

“And so do you,” Jack pressed on, while flipping over the file. “Now hang on, none of these captions on her photos of her former husband match the photo. It’s like they have been changed. They are all very angry or happy that he is dead. Calling him a shithead sack of potatoes and ‘Rest in Hades’. Yikes.”

Gibbs laughed, “I think I’ve been called worse. By ex-wife three, in fact.”

“It was like she was almost thanking someone that he was dead.”

“Perhaps she was.”

In the interrogation room, Bishop crossed her arms while leaning forward on the table.

“Yesterday morning, you were seen running the red light two blocks away in the car matching the description of the car at the hit and run.”

“I’m aware. I already told that other Agent McGoo or whatever that I admit to running a red light. I was running late for Pilates.”

“A carbon fiber from the spoiler on the back of your car has been found impaled in the neck of the person hit at the scene.”

“Lots of cars have that spoiler,” Heather rolled her eyes.

Attempting to control her quiet rage, “Really, so the fact you were seeing driving this car, the spoiler in the car is cracked matching the shard lodged in the person’s neck, and you were attempting to fly to a country where you could hide out indefinitely is a really big coincidence.” 

The questioning continued with tensions rises as an agitated Agent Bishop further attempted to keep her emotions under control with Heather’s complete denial and disregard to the line of questioning it was growing more difficult by the second.

“You are being held for two counts of attempted murder of two NCIS Agents and one count of fleeing the scene of the crime. You better hope the one count doesn’t escalate to murder. We are done here, your lawyer will be with you shortly,” Bishop spat and started to leave.

“Murder? NCIS agents?” Heather started to break with the tears flowing. “I was just supposed to repay a favor.”

“A favor.”

“Yeah, I didn’t get that many details, but I wasn’t told they were federal agents. I was given an approximate location of two people running and this really grainy photo of these people. Afterwards, I was going to be meet him in Vietnam.”

“In Vietnam?”

“To lay low for a year or two. I really don’t know the specifics after that,” Heather started to cry again. “I thought they were just old customers of the man my late husband used to work for.”

“Customers?”

“Yeah, my husband—he was involved in some really shady stuff.”

Ellie had sat back down with her hands clasped in front of her, as Heather unraveled in front of her. Tilting her head, she attempted to wait out to see what else Heather would offer.

“It’s really weird, because I thought he was in jail.”

“Who was in jail?”

Heather had started bawling again, “It was you, wasn’t it? Running with the other agent? Unfuckingbelievable, he said your names were Charlie and Luis, there was no mention of federal agents. Oh my god, his trial is in two months. I thought it was weird he called me from a weird number two weeks ago. Holy shit. Donnie’s cleaning up his mess and fleeing the country.”

In Heather’s complete spiral of information, Ellie had a chill come over her and turned slowly to the mirror towards the observation room.

It was a hit.

“Boss, did she just say what I think she said?” McGee had just entered the observation room, witnessing Heather’s meltdown.

“It was a hit,” Gibbs said with finality, storming out of the room. “Call the prison, find Donnie Bailey NOW.”

“Is there something I should I know about?” Jack pensively asked McGee who was watching Heather still crying alone in the interrogation room.

“Remember a couple years ago, when Torres and Bishop went undercover to break up a fentanyl drug ring at the Norfolk Marina. Drug ringleader was hiding as a low-level guy and only his top lieutenants knew who was actually in charge,” McGee explained.

“I do.”

“Torres went a little off book and to this day I think because of that Bishop has bent the rules than she ever did before. I told Gibbs he was a bad influence on her.”

“Director Vance was worried about the same thing. It all worked out in the end. Nothing is what it seems on the first pass.”

“Something is different, but I don’t know what. She seems a little… like she’s gonna go rogue on us.”

After Jack returned upstairs to her office, McGee sighed in the silence of the observation room. Just how in the hell did this case connect all together?

Downstairs in the parking garage, Bishop had convinced Gibbs to let her come with him to the prison to question Donnie Bailey—orchestrating a hit from prison was one thing but arranging travel to Vietnam was another red flag all together. Something seemed off.

“Hey,” Gibbs slammed his hand down on the desk to get the attention of correctional officer at the front gate. “NCIS. Agents Gibbs and Bishop. We are here to question prison inmate 42523 Bailey comma Donnie James.”

“Yes, sir,” the man walked out to front entrance to meet Bishop and Gibbs to escort them through security. “Your director called; we have placed inmate Bailey into the interview cell.”

Gibbs and Bishop walked silently following the prison correctional officer down the corridor.

“Bishop, are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I wish people would quiet asking me that.”

“You don’t look fine, let me do the talking,” Gibbs said under his breath as he walked away.

“Inmate Bailey, please face the wall and do not turn around until the door is closed behind you.”

After Gibbs and Bishop entered the interview cell and the cell door buzz closed behind them, the man in the tan jumpsuit slowly turned around.

Who the hell is this? That is not Donnie Bailey.


	2. The Second Hit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donnie was not going to let a failed hit put a stop to his plan.

As soon as the man in the tan jumpsuit turned around, it was obvious to the two agents that this was not Donnie Bailey. Who was he?

After yelling for the guard to open the doors, Gibbs started shouting demanding to speak with the warden immediately.

“Sir, the identity badge indicates that was Inmate Bailey.”

“Does that look like Donnie Bailey to you,” Gibbs yelled pointing at the computer monitor in the warden’s office with a photo from the NCIS file beside it. “There wasn’t a photo check at release?”

The man in the interview cell was Donnie’s former cellmate. The two men looked similar enough that with the help of the high turnover of staff at the prison, they successfully switched inmate identity bands about three months ago. They had been living in the prison as the other person for months with no one batting an eye.

Matt Francis, the man still in prison as Donnie Bailey, had confessed to the guards that even though his sentence was over last month, it was not safe for him outside. He had been getting threatening letters from an unknown sender for the last year from his hometown in Nevada. He had found himself indebted to Donnie to repay a favor for saving him in the rec yard and when Donnie’s proposed this as his repayment to him, it was an easy decision.

Back in the car to the Navy Yard, Bishop seethed in quiet rage, “How did they mess this up so badly?”

Gibbs continued to drive silently; he knew that’s not what upset her.

“Any word from the hospital?”

“No, I think they’re screening my calls. They think I don’t notice when they run away from me,” Bishop whispered, turning to look out the window at the scenery speeding by.

“They’re just doing their jobs and we need to do ours. Find Donnie Bailey before he leaves the country.”

At the Navy Yard, the bullpen was full of the remaining members of the team attempting to piece the puzzle of Donnie’s prison escape together.

“Terrified for his own life, Matt Francis near the end of his own prison sentence exchanged his identity band with Donnie Bailey and waited for staff turnover to run its course,” Jack held up her own folder, while motioning to the plasma in front of them. “The threats he received were graphic, specific, and provided a time and place. It’s easy to see what persuaded him to do this, Donnie had an easy target and took the opportunity.”

“So, approximately three months ago,” McGee had grabbed the remote and started clicking through photos on the plasma. “The switching of the bands took place and they began to live as the other inmate. Everyone on the cell block was terrified of Donnie, so they were all sworn to silence. He knew how to get into each one of their heads or get them to do his bidding.”

“He is a real piece of work,” Jack nodded looking down at her almost finished psychological profile. “There is a lot to uncover here.”

Bishop had been staring silently at Torres’ desk and was only brought back to reality when Gibbs burst into the bullpen demanding an update.

“Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!” Kasie ran into the bullpen. “I reviewed the video feed and found the moment Matt Francis was released. Except, it was Donnie Bailey walking out that door as a free man. It confirms that the releasing guard, did not check the photo at release. There wasn’t one.”

“Where did it go?” Gibbs turned to Kasie. “Wasn’t there one at intake?”

“There was…” Kasie started, before pressing the button. “But all prison inmates’ photos were lost in a power surge three weeks ago.”

“That’s too much of a coincidence and you know how I feel about those. McGee, BOLO!” Gibbs ordered as he ran upstairs to update the director.

“On it.”

Jack turned to Ellie who had become increasingly rattled since learning of Donnie’s prison escape. She was having trouble regulating her emotions and when she did, she came across as detached and methodical. Something wasn’t right.

“Ellie, can I talk to you for sec?” Jack asked as she guided her to the private spot behind the stairs.

Ellie had followed silently, lost in her thoughts. Jack could tell she had been holding off tears again.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. Why does people keep asking me that?”

“Ellie, you don’t look fine. You’re hurting and you keep pushing people away. You’ve been through a major trauma and it’s okay to feel this way.”

Ellie paused for a beat while thinking of her answer, “He pushed me out of the way, you know. Not even a second thought.”

Jack could tell there was more she wanted to say but couldn’t bring herself to vocalize what emotions she was feeling this time. She had never seen Ellie react in this way, as her analyst background let her remain detached from the task at hand. Something was different this time.

She had started to piece together where she had seen similar emotional reactions in survivors of trauma, such as when they had lost a close friend or partner, but her analysis was brought to a halt when Gibbs can jogging down the stairs after updating the director.

“We will finish this later,” Jack hugged Ellie before joining McGee and Gibbs back in the bullpen.

Ellie sighed as she crossed her arms, learning against the stairwell wall. There was lot of emotions from this targeted attack that she hadn’t even begun to process yet. A gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that grew each second he didn’t wake up. Guilt. A secondary emotion brought on by her partner risking his life to save hers. Why did he have to be so… her thoughts were interrupted by Kasie walking by back to her lab.

“Hey B, just hanging out here, alone, by the stairs?”

“Just thinking.”

“Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do, Kase, will do.”

Kasie turned to leave when Ellie spoke again, “Kase? Thanks for not asking if I’m okay.”

Kasie nodded, “I know you’re not. Why would you be?”

After Kasie had turned to leave, Ellie lifted herself of the wall and stomped over to her desk and threw herself down in the chair. Words were being thrown around in the bullpen about Donnie’s potential whereabouts and be honest, Ellie lost focus on the words several minutes ago. She kept flashing back to Nick unconscious in the hospital bed. Donnie had to be stopped, Ellie seethed, and if she had to take matters into her own hands so be it.

As McGee and Gibbs loaded up to follow a lead, McGee came over to Bishop’s desk, “Ellie, we need you to stay here. We don’t know all the details, but it’s not safe for you out there. He was coming for you too.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

“I know that, Ellie. Kasie might need some help down in the lab.”

“Fine, I’ll guess I’ll do that,” Ellie said to no one, as McGee had just left to join Gibbs in the elevator.

As she grabbed her laptop and looked around to her surroundings and noticed no one around, Ellie grabbed her backpack and walked towards the rear entrance. She couldn’t think here. It was too crowded and the best way to find Donnie was to change her perspective.

Ellie is not sure how long she was driving around for, unable to decide if she wanted to go home or go to the hospital. Maybe working on the case in the ICU waiting room would provide useful relief of being near Nick if any updates came in, but also just in case Donnie showed up. She had an uneasy feeling that he knew they were both still technically alive. He seemed to know a lot of things, including their running route when he had only been out of prison for a month. He had been following them. She had to find him; she didn’t know if she could live with herself if they didn’t.

Her head pounded with the rising of emotions that had been stewing quietly in the back of her mind and in her chest. What was this emotion she was feeling? She had felt something similar before, but that was just that, it was similar when other people close to her were injured or killed. But—against the gnaw in her stomach refused to be quelled by amount of processing she attempted to do.

As she made a right turn down the boulevard, she glanced up at the rear-view mirror to see a green car make the same turn as she had for the last 3 turns. Strange, but not unusual—they were probably headed to the hospital themselves. Her head pounded with the increased concentration on the road in front of her. She hadn’t admitted to the rest of the team that she hadn’t slept more than an hour since the hit and run. Flashbacks of Nick lying there on the ground, as she screamed for the ambulance.

Ellie attempted to relax. She continued to drive as the sun continued to set behind her, drawing in a deep breath and out on the count of four while making a left turn down the side industrial road to the hospital. Concussion symptoms from hitting her head on the concrete returned.

Watching the car behind her make the same turn once more, she continued to glance in the rear-view mirror as a car to her left plowed through a stop sign and into the side of her car.

As the black SUV plowed into the side of her truck, she is rocked sideways as glass shatters and smoke erupts from the car engines. The vehicles finally came to rest in the middle of the abandoned roadway. The car door to the offending car opened and a man stumbled over to check the damages of what he has inflicted.

“What the hell,” Ellie mumbles out, as the world spins around her and her eyes are unable to focus on the man bearing down on her. She sees him raise a weapon in her general direction as he walked up to the car. She blinks her vision clear and she reaches for her sidearm.

“Donnie sends his regards, Charlie.”

Two gunshots ring out and the man falls to the ground. The green car still her flips around and speeds off in the opposite direction.

Across town at an abandoned warehouse, Gibbs and McGee were performing a sweep after Donnie was caught on the neighboring business security footage two weeks ago, hoping to find the center of his operations or any lead in his location. Unfortunately, all they found was empty rooms and cobwebs.

“Boss, there’s nothing here now. But something was, he took whatever he had with him.”

“We will keep looking, we will find him,” Gibbs continued to look around the room, opening his cellphone. “Gibbs.”

McGee had stopped looking around the room to take an interest in the person on the other side of the call.

“Thank you, Doctor. Tell him I will be there in 10 minutes.”

“The hospital?”

“Yeah, Torres is awake and apparently he’s a chatterbox.”

“Sounds like him.”

Arriving at the hospital, Gibbs entered the ICU room to find Torres sitting up in bed, trying to acclimate to his surroundings.

“Gibbs! What the hell happened?”

“You got hit by a car, amigo.”

“I know that. I’ve been asking them about Bishop and they don’t seem to know anything! Is she okay!”

“She’s fine. She’s back at the Navy Yard. She wasn’t admitted and I think, well, she scared the medical staff here a little bit.”

Still in his medication-induced confused state, Nick proclaimed, “I’m starving.”

“Nick,” Gibbs started seriously. “This wasn’t a random accident. This was a hit, by Donnie Bailey. He escaped prison last month and was cleaning up loose ends. It was for the both of you.”

“And she’s alright, right?”

Gibbs sighed, “Yeah, she was ordered to stay at the Navy Yard once we found out Donnie was no longer in prison. He is sparing no one in house cleaning.”

McGee burst into the hospital room, “Boss, I just got off the phone with Kasie. Bishop never went down to the lab, no one has seen her for hours and she’s not answering her cell. No one knows where she is.”

As Gibbs had spun to look at McGee, the door out of the ICU opened and he could see a person being wheeled in the gurney directly from the ambulance bay down the hallway into the emergency department. Following his gut, he left the ICU and stood in the doorway, overhearing the handoff from emergency services to the attending emergency room physician.

“We have a 34-year old female involved in a two-car crash. Multiple contusions, possible concussion, and probable broken bones noted on initial examination. Airway is clear and rhythm is normal, but she lost a lot of blood at the scene and has not regained consciousness on transport. Metro PD is currently investigating, shots were fired and second subject was found deceased at the scene” the paramedic spouted off the report.

“Gibbs,” he spoked softly into his phone. “Yes, Vance, I am aware. I’m looking at her right now. Ask Metro PD to send everything over.” He snapped his phone shut and slammed his fists on the doors as he opened them again.

He reentered Nick’s hospital room, where McGee and Torres were in a lively debriefing of Donnie’s prison escape. They stopped talking when they say the look across Gibbs’ face.

“Everything okay, Boss. Did you hear from Bishop?”

“Yes and no, Tim,” Gibbs started to explain. “Metro PD is investigating another hit and run about two blocks from here. A black SUV ran a stop sign and into the side of Bishop’s truck.”

“The driver?”

“Dead at the scene. Two bullet wounds, dead center of his chest.”

“And Bishop?”

Ten minutes later, Ellie had started to rouse to consciousness in the emergency room after they had stabilized her broken collar bone and patched her up, while waiting to admit her to the hospital.

“Gibbs,” she exclaimed as she noticed him sitting next to her gurney. “What the hell just happened.”

“Well, you got hit by a car. Again.”

Ellie sighed, “I know I should have stayed at the Navy Yard. But I couldn’t sit still with him out there.”

“That’s right. You should have.”

Silence fell in the emergency room nook between the two agents, Ellie glanced over at her boss before speaking once more.

“I was being followed by a green car, I attempted to change my direction to see if they were still following me. They were,” Ellie began debriefing the accident. “When I was watching the car behind me, a black SUV slammed into the left side. After coming to the stop, a man got out and raised his weapon at me, I shot twice to neutralize after he said Donnie sent his regards.”

“And the car behind you?”

“They sped away.”

“Do you know who the man was?”

In autopsy, Jimmy looked at the dead man on the autopsy table, “The man’s name is Johnny Gardner. Multiple fractures, probably from the crash. But the cause of death was two shots in the heart. Matching Agent Bishop’s issued sidearm.”

“Thank you, Jimmy,” McGee responded, typing the name into his phone to send to Gibbs.

“You know, I don’t remember this case at the marina that everyone is talking about,” Jimmy asked McGee, trying to understand who was after both Torres and Bishop.

“It was in January 2018, weren’t you here?”

“Oh no, that must have been when I left to go to that conference in Austria for two weeks.”

The elevator chimed as it opened and the autopsy doors hissed as Kasie walked through, “Hello gentlemen, do I have a report for you!”

“I’m all ears, Kase,” McGee answered.

Kasie explained this was one of Donnie’s former lieutenants that was not arrested in the original bust. The four that were arrested were given deals in exchange for their testimony. They have either vanished or dropped dead of cardiac arrest before they could testify at trial.

“The medical examiners reviewing their cases all suspected foul play, noting a small puncture wound consistent with a hypodermic needle injection.”

“Injection with what?”

“Air.”

“Air?”

“Yeah, even a small amount of air—even a milliliter can cause cardiac arrest. It’s pretty untraceable,” Jimmy explained.

“Thanks guys, I’ll tell Gibbs,” McGee pressed on his phone to calls Gibbs and ran out to the elevator.

After Gibbs had left, Jimmy turned to Kasie, “Where is Gibbs anyway?”

“He’s waiting for Metro PD to provide security for both Bishop and Torres’ room. Donnie is bent on revenge.”

“Do you know anything about that undercover case? It apparently happened near New Years in 2018, when I was in Austria for a conference. No one talked about it after I got back.”

“And why would they? Need to know, secret agent stuff.”

“I know, it’s just, I never expected Bishop to be involved in an undercover case.”

“There might be plenty of things we don’t know about, Jimmy,” Kasie smiled as she left to go back upstairs to her lab. She had heard some specifics about the case from Abby when Kasie had called after she found a picture of the two of them in one of the drawers. Abby could tell a good story and it was a good one. Abby was convinced they were secretly in love because of it.

Gibbs returned to the Navy Yard after the security detail was put in place by Metro PD and marched down to the interrogation where Heather Karlsson was waiting.

She was the only one alive that could tell them anything with the man down in autopsy taking his secrets with him to the grave. The cellmate proved to be a dead end. The man really knew nothing about Donnie in the two years they had been cellmates, Donnie only spoke in general terms and did not offer any specifics. He had been released to witness protection, as his testimony had shortened his prison term and angered some powerful people.

“So, you owed Donnie a favor? What was it?”

“He killed my husband.”

“And that’s something you owed him a favor for?”

“Agent Gibbs, my husband was a terrible person. Violent. Donnie put a stop to that. He told him that hitting your wife makes the cops look around and Donnie couldn’t risk that.”

Gibbs started silently as Heather offered more of her statement with her relationship with Donnie.

“He’s not going to stop you know. Donnie doesn’t stop. He will not stop until he thinks his mess is cleaned. Anyone who wronged him is gone. He’s not well.”

“Do you know a Johnny Gardner?” Gibbs questioned, placing a photo of the dead man in autopsy down on the table.

Heather froze in response to the photo being placed on the table in front of her, “Johnny? He was never arrested. He went into the wind. He was the clean-up man; he was always in the shadows.”

“We unlocked his phone and found this text message from a blocked number. It said to clean up Heather’s mess.”

“It’s Donnie. He was so mad I messed up the hit. He was watching the whole thing. I bet Vietnam wasn’t even a real plan, just to lull me into letting my guard down so he could take me out.”

“And why is that?”

“There is no way Donnie would leave until all of this is over. He’s always watching, orchestrating everything. With Johnny gone, it’s only me and your two agents left,” Heather breathed in a shaky breath. “He will not stop until we are all dead.”


	3. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end was just the beginning.

“Francis, please step forward,” the guard behind the desk instructed to the man standing behind the exit processing line. “Sign here that you are receiving the items that you handed over when you were detained.”

Donnie, as Matt Francis, signed the paperwork quickly and quietly. He remained silent and kept his head turned away from the security camera as he marched towards the front entrance of the prison. After nodding to the guard at the gate, the front door buzzed open and out went Donnie Bailey as a free man into the parking lot of the prison. Several other inmates were being released at that time, their families and friends were greeting them with open arms or quietly providing rides back home. Reaching into his pockets, he found that Matt had 83 dollars and 79 cents to his name. Not enough, but it was enough to get somewhere. Donnie decided to keep moving in case someone finally caught on to this elaborate ruse and continue with his plan, his revenge.

He had been at this game since his mother had gotten sick and never had one lick of trouble until he got sloppy, until he trusted someone too quickly. That NCIS Agent, Nick Torres and his partner. Donnie had never learned her name—Nick had always spoken carefully to not say her real name and both of their names were redacted in the documents he had seen over his lawyer’s shoulder. Donnie had continued walking for some time when he came upon a gas station, where he saw a ratty phone booth connected to the side. Hoping that it wasn’t just a relic of time gone by with the phone long ripped out, he was greeted with a worn but usable payphone.

“Amazing, we still got one of those, ain’t it?” a man in coveralls, throwing the towel over his shoulder remarked in Donnie’s direction. “Those mobile phones don’t work in these parts that well. The trees and mountains, and so on.”

“Yeah, I actually lost my phone. I’m trying to get back to Norfolk myself, just need to call a friend to pick me up,” Donnie smiled at the gas station attendant.

“Well, it’s your lucky day, it was broken last week, and they just came and fixed it.”

“It sure is, sir, it sure is.”

Remembering a few phone numbers, Donnie made his way over to the side of the gas station building and reached into his pocket for the coins and dialed the number.

“Johnny? It’s me, Don. Yeah, I’m out. I couldn’t call earlier, but… uh, can you come pick me up? I’ll explain it later.”

Two hours later, Donnie climbed into Johnny’s truck wordlessly, as Johnny turned around to head back towards DC. Donnie wanted to start fresh and new somewhere else, but he had a few things to attend to first.

Within three days, Donnie had activated his phone tree, regaining his prior control of his organized circuit and had set in motion his plans for cleanup and final escape. There were people much larger and much more powerful in control over his head and he had very limited time to make a run for it. He had to clean house and clean house fast to ensure no one could ever find him again.

Breathing in deeply, Donnie enjoyed the fresh breath of crisp winter air by the front entrance of a DC coffee shop where he was waiting for his associate. It had taken three days for Donnie to relax and stop looking behind him every four steps. However, Donnie kept altering his appearances just slightly every day as a precautionary measure. He had just taken a sip from his coffee, when he saw one runner slow to a stop in front of the window where he was sitting. The bright sun outside and the lack of interior lighting made it so the man outside couldn’t see Donnie staring at him.

“Nick, I swear to god stop doing that!” yelled the trailing runner catching up with him, her ponytail flailing with each stride.

“Come on Bishop, you know it was a risk. I’m a machine.”

The blonde placed her hands on her hips as she caught her breath, waving at him, “Oh save it. Ready?”

“I’m always ready, Ellie,” and the man bolted off running again.

Donnie couldn’t believe his luck for the second time this week. He had called his associate to assist in the locating of these two agents, but the universe had other ideas. Donnie chuckled to himself, of course they’d be together, not everything in that marina tackle shop was faked. Also—he had a name—Ellie Bishop. The timeline just moved up significantly.

“Hey Ricky, there’s been some changes,” Donnie spoke into the burner cellphone. “I still need that favor from you, but now I just need some travel arranged. I’ll call you in a few days to set up further details. I have another call to make.”

Donnie ended the phone call, only to start dialing the next phone number, as he glared down the avenue where the runners were last seen sprinting down.

“Heather,” Donnie breathed out into the phone. “Don’t sound so surprised to hear from me. You know I would come to collect one day; we need to meet. 6pm, you know where.”

“What do you mean you want me to take people out for you?” Heather screamed at Donnie in an abandoned warehouse.

“To pay your debts.”

“A debt I didn’t ask for!”

“But you’re still alive, aren’t you? And I wouldn’t be so sure that would still be the case if Kyle was still with us, would you?” Donnie articulated with a disgusted glare.

“Are they customers or employees that did you wrong or some shit?” Heather seethed.

“Something like that.”

“What do I have to do?” Heather sniffed. “Two separate hits? I’ve never done this before, how do I not get caught between the hits?”

“Oh, I think they’re an item now. Let’s call them Charlie and Luis. It’s kind of sad really,” Donnie muttered, staring off into the distance in thought. “I’m having some people tail them to get the information to you.”

“I’ve always wanted to go to Asia, on vacation, not like this.”

“We both have things we don’t want to do, but we have to do.”

Heather scoffed and rolled her eyes to prevent the tears of anger from falling.

“Don’t cry. Soon, you’ll be on the beach and all of this will be behind us. You’ll get a text message with the information when it’s time.”

Heather stood up from the cold metal chair and barged towards the door until Donnie spoke once more.

“Heather?” Donnie questioned from the table. “Make sure she goes first. He needs to feel it.”

Two and a half weeks later, Heather and Donnie were back in that same warehouse on either side of the card table.

“How the absolute hell, did you fuck up that much, Heather? She was supposed to go first. That was the plan!”

“I’m sorry, you didn’t account for him pushing her out of the way!”

“And you were fucking sloppy? Running a red light?”

“I panicked! Charlie saw me!”

“Unbelievable,” Donnie rubbed his face. “She didn’t see you when you got pulled into the fucking Navy Yard an hour ago, did she!?”

“No, it was some other agent, McGee or something like that.”

“They have to still both be alive, if you’re standing here right now. They would have found a way to hold you.”

“They have my car,” Heather admitted.

“Who?”

“Metro.”

“Just go, I’ll deal with you later. Vietnam is going to have to wait,” Donnie sneered dialing on his burner. “Go! Before I change my mind!”

As Donnie yelled at her, Heather scurried towards the door into the darkness.

“Hey Johnny? How’d it going, my man?” Donnie laughed into the phone. “Good, good. Could be better man, I need that favor you said you owed me. I’ll text you the details in a few. You get her, I’ll get him and let’s just end things. I don’t have time to wax poetic any longer.”

Eight months had passed since Heather had scurried out into the darkness before being picked up by NCIS once again. Ellie Bishop and Nick Torres were at the grocery store, in their own world, after leaving the courthouse for Donnie’s trial. He had been found guilty of all counts and he was going away for life, in the federal supermax prison in Colorado. It was the Alcatraz of the Rockies; he was never going to escape again.

A complex gambling ring of military contractors in Vegas were financing Donnie’s operation in Norfolk and had multiple hit men out on Donnie and his associates. Their informant inside the prison was able to notify them of Donnie’s plans of prison escape and they had guided him out the door with the wiping of the computer servers holding the prisoner mugshots. There really is no such thing as coincidences.

Ellie was standing in front of the coffee, attempting to decide with the choices in front of her when Nick swooped in behind her and held an item in front of her.

“Happy anniversary, babe.”

“You can’t just keep handing me things and saying that each time, especially when I’m buying it.”

Nick grabbed her hand and spun her around into him, lightly kissing her cheek, “But the surprise awaits.”

Ellie laughed as she leaned back into him. It was their six-month anniversary, but none of their friends knew. They hadn’t been hiding it, but also no one had outright asked either.

“Hey Ellie! Nick!” the two broke from their embrace looking to their left, Delilah had placed her hand basket on her lap and was making her way over to the pair.

“Shit,” Nick muttered under his breath.

“Play it cool.”

“I am cool. Always.”

“Delilah, hey! What ya doing here?”

“I live here, you know, two blocks that way. You’ve been there before. Found dead bodies in the floor and didn’t tell me.”

“Right, of course,” Ellie nodded as Nick made himself busy, facing the items on the shelf.

“So, Tim said the trial was finished today, what a relief, right?”

“The biggest,” Ellie laughed, while casting a side eye to Nick trying to make himself more invisible by the second. Delilah was always slightly intimidating with her line of questioning and they both knew where she was going next.

The conversation then fell silent and a few moments passed before Delilah spoke up.

“So, are you just going to act like I didn’t just see all of that or tell me how all of this started?”

Ellie sighed and Nick stifled a laugh, no one had asked that before—so they had no practice in telling this story.

“I think, we have to go back to when we were both hospitalized to truly explain it.”

“Oh, Tim has the twins, I got time. I’ve waited years for this.”

“Nick? Why don’t you start?”

“I was in a coma.”

“After that!” Ellie waved her hands.

“You were in a coma!” Nick pointed.

“I was not in a coma! I just lost a lot of blood and passed out. Anyway, let’s just start when we both regained consciousness and Donnie showed up at the hospital.”

Ellie started to explain about a night eight months ago after Gibbs had just finished questioning Heather one last time to confirm that Torres, Bishop, and herself were last three remaining on Donnie Bailey’s kill list before he fled the country. He knew they were all still alive.

McGee had just received a phone call from the BOLO, a hospital security guard had seen Donnie in the hospital parking structure five minutes ago.

“Donnie Bailey was a paramedic,” Jack exclaimed running down the stairs.

“And?” Gibbs questioned, grabbing his badge and gun heading towards the elevator, to which Jack walked in step with him.

“The primary cause of death for his lieutenants was pulmonary embolism. He worked at John Hamilton Hospital, while waiting to join the fire academy—and then his mom got sick. Donnie took out his own lieutenants in this manner, probably looking them in the eye when he killed them without a trace—an act of control. I got to tell you, Gibbs—in all my years of work, I haven’t seen one quite like this. He’s silent, but deadly.”

Gibbs nodded in thank you, as he left the elevator with McGee behind him, “McGee, call hospital security and tell Metro PD to stand down.”

“Boss?” McGee questioned while getting into the passenger seat.

“We need to play his game,” Gibbs declared, speeding off to the hospital.

Donnie strode down the hallway in surgical scrubs, gliding past the nurses’ station to quickly glance at room assignments and continued down the hallway. He stopped at Torres’ door and quietly slipped inside, while reaching in his pocket for the syringe.

“You’ll have to do,” he muttered under his breath, drawing back the plunger to fill the syringe with air and injecting it into the port below the IV pump.

When suddenly behind him, a sharp kick to the side of his knee took him down in immense pain followed by a scream.

“What the hell are you doing, Donnie?”

Donnie screamed in pain on the ground, holding his knee. “You’re too late, Charlie, or should I say Agent Bishop. It should be any minute now.”

Agent Bishop kicked him again, yelling in pain holding her left arm. It was so much easier without a broken collarbone or not in hospital garb.

“Kick him in the face!” Nick declared, waving the disconnected IV tubing around.

“NCIS! Freeze!” shouted Gibbs and McGee from the door, guns raised.

“Where were you guys?” Ellie said faintly sitting down holding her arm gingerly, adjusting the hospital pajamas. “I came down here when I saw MetroPD scatter, it didn’t seem right.”’

“Nope. It wasn’t. Donnie Bailey, you are under arrest---again,” Gibbs said as he tightened the cuffs behind Donnie’s back, dragging him upright.

Watching Donnie struggle to stand, as Gibbs drug him away, McGee looked perplexed and gave a questioning look to Bishop.

“I took out his ACL, I think.”

“Boom goes the dynamite,” Nick laughed, still on pain medication.

“Ah, I’ll go help him. I’ll be right back.”

After McGee left to follow Gibbs down the hall, Ellie shifted to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Well—you should keep your day job. You have no future in acting. You are the worst fake sleeper, I’ve ever seen. I could see that from the hall when I wheeled up.”

“Please, catching bad guys in my sleep is just a fourth superpower of mine.”

“I think that was me, Gibbs, and McGee. You were sleeping.”

“Fine, I was bait,” Nick relented. “Haven’t seen you since the run, are you ok? You’ve had two hit attempts in the last 72 hours.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think anything from that case would resurface ever again.”

“Nothing ever goes away in this job. It stays without, even in the shadows. Are you sure, you’re ok? You look a bit green.”

Ellie smiled and reached for his hand, “I am—well, we are now.”

Back in the present day, Delilah was captivated by the dramatic re-telling in the middle of the coffee aisle.

“That still doesn’t explain everything,” Delilah chided.

“Sure, it does, can we go now?” Nick bounced impatiently.

“So, that was when you started dating?”

“Well,” Ellie pursed her lips. “That’s much more complicated story.”

“Oh, is it now? Was it before the Subaru took you out because that’s what I have in the betting pool.”

“Long story short, things were realized, and things were said after about two months of pseudo-dates following our injury rehab therapy appointments.”

Delilah tilted her head to get more information, but Nick was getting more impatient by the second.

“Do you have somewhere to be, Nick?” Delilah asked bemusedly.

“As lovely as it was to see you Delilah, we have somewhere to be,” Nick exclaimed, swinging his arm over Ellie’s shoulder.

“We do?” Ellie asked, as she was being guided down the aisle towards check out. “Why did we come here?”

“A ploy. Bye Delilah!” Nick waved, looked behind him down the aisle, muttered something into Ellie’s ear, to which she lightly tapped his chest.

“Babe!”

The news of their six-month anniversary spread across the Navy Yard like wildfire. McGee was in denial for missing it and convinced he was losing his mind. Kasie was ecstatic about being right and Jimmy was constantly backtracking himself for clues. Gibbs had figured it out months ago, but after burning rule 12 for personal reasons, he had stayed silent.

This story of Donnie’s revenge was not the end for Charlie and Luis, but only just the beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the Ellick GC, who encouraged me to go wild in my first AU story spin of the On Fire episode, also written by the individual who wrote High Tide. #funfact


End file.
